Meet Burka Avenger: a mild-mannered teacher with secret martial arts skills who uses a flowing black burqa to hide her identity as she fights local thugs seeking to shut down the girls’ school where she works. Sadly, it’s a battle Pakistanis are all too familiar with in the real world.

The Urdu language show is the brainchild of one of Pakistan’s biggest pop stars, Aaron Haroon Rashid – known to many as simply Haroon – who conceived of it as a way to emphasize the importance of girls’ education and teach children other lessons, such as protecting the environment and not discriminating against others. This last point is critical in a country where Islamist militants wage repeated attacks on religious minorities.

“Each one of our episodes is centered around a moral, which sends out strong social messages to kids,” Rashid told The Associated Press in his first interview about the show. “But it is cloaked in pure entertainment, laughter, action and adventure.”

The Taliban have blown up hundreds of schools and attacked activists in Pakistan’s northwest because they oppose girls’ education. The militants sparked worldwide condemnation last fall when they shot Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old schoolgirl activist, in the head in an unsuccessful attempt to kill her.

“It’s not a sign of oppression. She is using the burqa to hide her identity like other superheroes,” said Rashid. “Since she is a woman, we could have dressed her up like Catwoman or Wonder Woman, but that probably wouldn’t have worked in Pakistan.”

A group of orphans who were provided an early screening of the first episode at an orphanage on the outskirts of Islamabad laughed and cheered as the Burka Avenger vanquished her enemies.

In one of the music videos, Rashid and local rap star Adil Omar sing in praise of the Burka Avenger, while standing in front of a pair of colorfully decorated Pakistani trucks festooned with bright lights.

“Don’t mess with the lady in black, when she’s on the attack,” they sing.

“It is time to correct an historic justice and deal with the Jews who were forced out of Arab countries.”

Top: Immigrants from Iraq arriving at Atlit transit camp, June 1951. Top right: Israeli stewardness at Lod Airport giving a drink to young immigrant from Morocco, Nov 1949. Bottom left: Registration of immigrants from Iraq at Lod Airport, May 1951. Bottom right: Every three hours a plane arrived at Lod Airport carrying immigrants from Iraq and Kurdistan via Teheran, May 1951

Many Jews who had lived for generations in Arab countries were driven from their homes as a result of antisemitism and anti-Jewish riots after the declaration of the Jewish state. Between 1948 and 1952, 856,000 Jews from Arab countries became refugees.

The “I am a refugee” campaign is being conducted online and on Facebook. On the Facebook page can be found personal stories of Israelis from Arab countries who were expelled from their homes and their countries, but not before their property was confiscated and their rights were taken from them by the rulers.

“The time has come to correct an ongoing historical injustice affecting half the population of Israel,” says Deputy FM Ayalon, and adds, “We started 64 years late, but not too late. For the sake of true reconciliation with our Palestinian neighbors, the issue of the Jewish refugees must be resolved.”

DFM Ayalon calls on all refugees and their descendents to take part in the campaign and to upload their personal stories, by means of videos, written text, documents and pictures, to the Facebook page. “Tell the world your personal story, which is an inseparable part of the story of the Jewish people and the story of the re-establishment of the State of Israel,” Ayalon urges.

The next stage of the campaign will be an international conference of jurists and experts. The conference will be held in Jerusalem on September 10, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Pensioner Affairs and the World Jewish Congress. In addition, a conference will take place in New York when the United Nations General Assembly convenes at the end of this month. The personal stories that appear on the Facebook page will be presented at the conference.

There are currently between forty to fifty thousand Africans seeking refugee status in Israel. The majority of the asylum seekers come from either Eritrea or Sudan, but there are also refugees who come from the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, the DRC, Guinea, Somalia, and several other countries.

The reasons they fled their home countries vary, but most of them ended up in Israel the same way. They traveled through the Sinai desert.

Why are so we protective of the Jewish character of the State if it allows us to become the same monsters who once oppressed us?

How can so many Israelis who talk about the Holocaust as if there are trains waiting to take us away tomorrow not see the parallel, or at least the irony, in wanting to round up thousands of Africans in the middle of the night?” STEVEN BECK

I, Elham Alirezaei, am a painter from Iran, the land of blue tiles, Hafiz, Mawlana and Zoroaster. I’m a woman painter. This article is a glimpse of my experiences during 3 years of travel to/in India, which in some way is the beginning of another evolution in my life.

Read more…My ongoing journey
Eli has done her B.A from Azad university of Tehran, 1996 and a National Diploma, Isfahan, 1991. She has exhibited her piantings in numerous art galleries in Iran. A member of the Women’s Cultural Center, Teheran, she has worked for the rights of women with art shows, music concerts, and special protest gatherings against the execution of women. In 2009 she began designing jewelry and had three private exhibitions in Germany and Iran in 2011.

I met Eli on one of my extended road trips and she reminded me that once, a long time ago, Iran was Persia.

Where ever you are now Eli I wish you safe journey and may you reach the destination you talked so much about. Khuda Hafeez.

The news trickling out of India continues to be confusing. Where is this old, elegant and cultured Lady going? Where do her loyalties lie?

On one side she cuddles up to Uncle Sam. On the other hand she works a deal to buy oil from Uncle Sam’s arch enemy, Iran, while purchasing arms from Iran’s arch enemy, Israel….in fact Israel appears close to becoming the number one arms supplier to India.

What is happening?

India talks with folded hands and presents a picture of divinity that transcends comprehensive reality yet on the other hand spits in the very hands that supports it?

Has the politics of religion guiding the hands that rule India?

Has communal voting become the deciding factor? Like the elections in India’s most populous state which was won by a political party pandering to the Muslim vote. Even Mr. Bill Gates realised this by meeting the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh yesterday and suggesting ways and means to “help” the development of “toilet” facilities for the vast unwashed and alienated.

On Thursday, the Iranian Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi (who is in India to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Teheran for the NAM Conference), launched into a diatribe against Israel at a Press Conference with his Indian counterpart at his side, Mr.S.M.Krishna, the Indian Foreign Minister. The Iranian Minister even suggested that no Iranian was involved the terrorist attack on an Israeli Diplomat in Delhi earlier this year. While taking care not to directly blame any Iranian Agency for the attack, India had earlier requested Teheran through the Ministry of External Affairs to cooperate in the probe against three Iranians. India has also requested Iran’s permission to send an investigating team to Teheran but no response has been received. Ironically Iran is the country that supports Pakistan.

Hilary Clinton’s many forays into the festering Indian political scene appears to have come to nought. She was pushing for India to succumb to US pressure not to buy oil from the Iranians. But she didn’t offer another option. India incidentally buys oil from Iran in Indian rupees. And this helps because of late the Indian rupee has fallen from 46 rupees approx to a US$ to Rs.55.50 approx to a $!

So it’s economics and religion that appears to be controlling this vast country, not common sense.

Ministers associated with the Congress Party and its allies have been caught in a web of corruption that runs into millions of dollars. While the Central government has names of bank account holders in foreign countries, it refuses to divulge these names to Parliament even though the cash in these bank accounts is believed to be unaccounted wealth directly related to the looting of the country.

And in the meanwhile US multinational corporations have written to the US president complaining that there appears to be a lack of “decisiveness in decisions” between the States and Central Government. Added to this is HSBC’s latest report describing the Indian Economy as a “gasping elephant”.

Local armed insurgency – Maost and Naxals in some Indian States are operating with impunity… Kidnapping, killing and controlling large swathes of land. And they appear to get support from the local peasantry because the government’s policies to help the marginal and disenfranchised rural folk are mired in caste politics and corruption.

Ineptness, skewered ambitions and a warped sense of perception appears to have gripped Indian politicians. Instead of fighting the growing fire that is engulfing the country they are pandering to caste, religious and regional politics that continues to have a destructive bearing on the country’s economy and international relations.

Though Israel is India’s natural ally….yet India works “closely” with Iran (a country that supports Pakistan). It appears the Indian politicians are afraid of losing the Indian Muslim Vote therefore this stance – a ridiculous balancing act that may eventually affect the sovereignty of this great country.

Incidentally, Russia which has been India other natural ally has been selling advanced fighter jets to China and is doing brisk business in many other areas with it.

In the next ten years if Indian politicians continue to behave like local chieftains and continue to ignore the international ramifications of their policies; the arrogant Indian Middle Class continues to be disconnected from the rest of India; we can be assured that this country will fragment into smaller States destroying the dream that its founding fathers had envisaged in 1947.

Last night in Tel Aviv, we saw terrible acts of violence committed against the African refugee community. Around 1000 Israelis gathered in South Tel Aviv, where many asylum seekers live, to commit what can only be described as a pogrom.

Innocent bystanders were attacked, buildings and cars were burned, and other senseless acts of violence were committed in the name of hate and xenophobia. Events like this that occur in the Jewish State bring a shameful stain on us all.

We are fighting back against this tide of intolerance. We are organizing a pro-tolerance rally – a tikkun – in front of the prime minister’s house tomorrow, Friday, May 25 at 11:00am. IRAC is working with many other Israeli organizations and individuals to bring a swift end to this current wave of… Read more

Please share this with everyone you know. This is the last frontier of freedom of speech. It is now in danger of being controlled by vested interests that want to stifle the truth, the voice of ordinary people. Please join EFF. Thank you.

Dear Friend of Digital Freedom,

This week in Dallas, trade representatives are secretly negotiating new regulations for the Internet – including intellectual property provisions that could choke off online speech. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement may be even worse than ACTA; it could tie the hands of democratically-elected legislators and create new, international standards for intellectual property enforcement. Worst of all, Internet users and free expression advocates like EFF aren’t allowed in the room and are forbidden from seeing the negotiated text.

Give Free Speech a Chance. Naomi spoke out about the dissertations by Black students. She has a right to speak freely. She spoke the truth. Why is that when a white person speaks about a Black person words like racism etc. appear out of the woodwork and everyone gets sanctimonious? What would have happened if the reverse occurred? NOTHING!

It appears that America is becoming prisoner to its own political correctness.

“Seriously, folks, there are legitimate debates about the problems that plague the black community from high incarceration rates to low graduation rates to high out-of-wedlock birth rates,” Riley wrote about the dissertations. “But it’s clear that they’re not happening in black-studies departments. If these young scholars are the future of the discipline, I think they can just as well leave their calendars at 1963 and let some legitimate scholars find solutions to the… Read more

Recent analysis from the FBI and other government agencies demonstrates that malicious actors are targeting travelers abroad through pop-up windows while establishing an Internet connection in their hotel rooms.

Recently, there have been instances of travelers’ laptops being infected with malicious software while using hotel Internet connections. In these instances, the traveler was attempting to setup the hotel room Internet connection and was presented with a pop-up window notifying the user to update a widely-used software product. If the user clicked to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop. The pop-up window appeared to be offering a routine update to a legitimate software product for which updates are frequently available.